The St. Louis Cardinals entered Wednesday's series finale against the Atlanta Braves with a 10-14 record and sat in fourth place in the National League Central, 4 1/2 games behind the first place Chicago Cubs.
The 2025 season is meant to be more of a transitional one for St. Louis, but things haven't exactly gone according to plan.
They attempted several times to trade 10-time Gold Glove third baseman Nolan Arenado last offseason, but ultimately failed. However, he's off to a strong start this year.
Dayn Perry of CBS Sports notes that the Los Angeles Dodgers could be a suitor if St. Louis decides to trade him at the deadline.
"All of this is to say the two factors most essential to keeping the Arenado trade market alive – improved offensive performance on Arenado's part and poor results at the team level for St. Louis – are trending in the necessary directions. It's too speculative to get into trade specifics, but it's worth noting a couple of situations," Perry wrote.
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"If Max Muncy's struggles persist, then the Los Angeles Dodgers may be a team to monitor. It's all fluid, of course."
Arenado entered Wednesday's series finale hitting .268/.375/.427 with two home runs, 10 RBI, an .802 OPS and a 126 OPS+.
If he continues at this pace, he'll be a hot commodity at the trade deadline. The Dodgers showed interest for him in 2023, but St. Louis elected not to trade him.
Arenado is an eight-time All-Star, five-time Silver Slugger and six-time Platinum Glove Award winner in addition to his 10 Gold Gloves. If the Cardinals do trade him, they can open up third base for Nolan Gorman or Thomas Saggese.
It will certainly be interesting to see what kind of interest he'll generate at the deadline if the Cardinals are out of contention.
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